Patient mobility is an integral part of many patient care regimens in high acuity care environments. As part of the recovery process, patients are encouraged to periodically stand up, make short trips to the window, the bathroom, and other patient mobility events. Lack of patient mobility can result in physiologic complications such as deep vein thrombosis, infection, and overall prolonged recovery periods. Although it is preferable to provide continuous monitoring during these patient mobility events, it is often too difficult. Patient cables are often too short to allow for optimal range of patient movement, yet long enough to provide a tangle hazard to the patient and to the caregiver. As a result, the patient is typically disconnected from the local/bedside monitoring device. Disconnecting the patient can be time consuming, results in an unmonitored patient, and creates a gap in the patient record. It would be preferable to have a system that allows for easy connection and disconnection of a patient from a local monitor. Also, it would be preferable to allow a patient to continue to be monitored while not physically connected to a local/bedside monitor such that a patient may be monitored during patient mobility events.
Patients who are classified as high acuity often have a number of different sensors, probes, and electrodes monitoring their condition at any one time. Further, high acuity patients should be closely monitored on a continual basis. It would be preferable to have a monitoring system that allows high acuity patients to be able to move around while being monitored.
Patient mobility events for many patients do not involve leaving the vicinity of the local/bedside monitor, such as walking around a room or going to the bathroom. Further, if a patient is having problems it would be desirable to know this as soon as possible. Further still, when multiple connections and data transfers must take place for data to go from the sensor to the monitor, the chance that data will be degraded or will be unable to be transferred increases. It would be desirable to have a monitoring system that transfers data with as few connections as possible, especially when monitoring high acuity patients.
While wireless data transmission can offer the advantage of substantially continuous monitoring, it is not as reliable as a direct connection. Other objects may emit fields or signals that interfere with the ability of a wireless transmitter to accurately transmit data. For instance, in an operating room environment where electrocautery equipment is being used, the electrocautery equipment may emit fields that can interfere with wireless data transmission. It would be preferable to have a system that could combine the portability of wireless data transmission with the reliability of wired data transmission. Further, it would be desirable if the system were easier to operate than unplugging the sensors from one device and then replugging the sensors into a second device.
The teachings hereinbelow extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.